Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

I don't like the timing of it either, but do like the concept.

Interested to see what the squad will look like, I'd have the following:

Picked 35 players (same as last time) with same positional breakdown (15 backs, 20 forwards):

Loose Head Prop:

Jack Boyle, Paddy McCarthy, Kieran Ryan/Mark Donnelly (not sure which is rated more highly)

Hooker:

John McKee, Lee Barron, Dylan Tierney Martin (likelihood is that someone like Scott Buckley will go ahead of one of the two Leinster hookers as they won't want to be without both players)

Tight Head Prop:

Tom Clarkson, Sam Illo, Scott Wilson

Locks:

Harry Sheridan, Niall Murray, Brian Deeny, Evan O'Connell

Back Rows:

Brian Gleeson, James Culhane, Cormac Izuchukwu, David McCann, Reuben Crothers, Alex Kendellen

Scrum Halves:

Matthew Devine, Fintan Gunne, Nathan Doak

Out Halves:

Sam Prendergast, Jake Flannery, Tony Butler

Centres:

Jude Postlethwaite, Liam Turner, Cathal Forde, Hugh Gavin

Back Three:

Diarmuid Kilgallen, Rob Russell, Andrew Smith, Ethan McIlroy, Tommy O'Brien, Ben O'Connor

Breakdown:

Leinster: 12

Munster: 7

Ulster: 9

Connacht: 7

I tried to just pick the sort of up and coming players I think the coaches will want to get a good look at (hence the inclusion of some high potential younger guys like Gleeson, O'Connor, Gunne, Gavin & O'Connell, but I'm also conscious it's unlikely the selection will be so concentrated in certain positions, i.e. Connacht can't likely lose so many guys in the back three.

There are players on this squad who the provinces definitely won't want to lose, but it is likely good for the player's international ambitions to tour, i.e. Scott Wilson, Tom Clarkson, Alex Kendellen.

Guys like Nathan Doak, Tom Clarkson, Sam Illo, Cormac Izuchukwu, Brian Deeny, James Culhane, Alex Kendellen and Dylan Tierney Martin all toured last time too, but I've included them here again as it's hard to argue any of them are materially closer to the senior Ireland squad, with the possible exception of Izuchukwu and Kendellen.

Asenine or stupid and dumb wouldnt indicate.outrage for me so much as disagreeing with something

Can i ask why jack crowley or calvin nash playing against significantly lower than urc opposition should be a defining factor?

Is jack crowley not irelands 10 if we didnt have an emerging ireland tour? If so thats a massive issue isint it?

I mean we could always just select them in a squad. Its a poor sign of a coaching staff that they cant tell if a players good unless they have them for weeks on end no?

Maybe not then, but if the squad is as I've outlined above, I really don't think Munster would have too much to complain about.

Losing Kieran Ryan/Mark Donnelly, Brian Gleeson, Alex Kendellen, Tony Butler, Ben O'Connor, Diarmuid Kilgallen & Evan O'Connell for a few weeks wouldn't exactly be hardship. Of that group - only Kendellen is likely in a first choice 23 if everyone is fit.

Of course it's possible they select guys who are more advanced but haven't really made an international breakthrough like Shane Daly, John Hodnett or Sean O'Brien, but either way I still don't see Munster really being decimated.

Yeah, I think so, and hence why I included a couple of guys just out of U20s like Paddy McCarthy, Evan O'Connell, Brian Gleeson, Fintan Gunne, Hugh Gavin & Ben O'Connor.

They may also delve further down into the academies and bring guys like Shay McCarthy, Henry McErlean, Conor O'Tighearnaigh, Ruadhan Quinn etc, but either way I don't think the selection this time will impact the four provinces quite as much (all depending on injury etc.).

To me, the 35 I selected above would include a good mix of very high potential young players the coaches will want to get a good look at (Scott Wilson, Jack Boyle, Brian Gleeson, Dave McCann, Matthew Devine, Hugh Gavin) while also being a selection the provinces could largely live with, absent a handful of pinch points in a few positions (Ulster THP and OH, Leinster hooker).

It's fair to say Crowley and Joe McCarthy wouldn't in all likelihood have been capped that November if not for the EI tour.

After that, it's very hard to say as there wasn't an enormous amount of international rugby after that. Crowley still probably would have forced his way into the Irish squad but it's not a given.

Thats a pretty damning endightment of the irish coaching staff

They're a different beast playing in the green of South Africa, at home in front of packed out crowd. The Sharks are the best illustration of that (utter crap a lot of the time).

The South African players are probably the worst offenders in world rugby for just mailing it in a bit for their clubs.